Thursday, April 16, 2009

Pots from the kiln- Kiln Opening

We opened the kiln yesterday and there was a moment that I thought ,
" I need to borrow a hammer from Sofia."
Just what a girl needs is a hammer to unload a kiln----
In our early days I use to unload the kiln with a hammer and a bucket. Pot- smash- bucket. Repeat. Pot-smash-bucket... the other way to get rid of pots was a good tree or a good toss across the yard.
Back to the kiln- with the opening of the kiln we found good pots and we found pots where the ash glaze ran all the way to the shelf.
Not fun and frustrating and sad.
I needed a few moment to mourn the loss and move on.
And- I needed a hammer.........
If you look all the way down on the bottom shelf you will see two crocks fast glued down to the shelf- ouch and there were others- Two large vases on the top back stack. One might be okay. It was hard to lose the crock. Harder still is a nice large piece.
Maybe it will go in my pot garden.



Deep sigh- there were some really good pots and I will share those-





















But as you can see these big boys came out just fine.




I was happy with this tile.

11 comments:

Shortstuff said...

Bummer! I see the ones on the bottom shelf that ran. That's gotta be frustrating. The tile is wonderful. I like that one, too.

Gary's third pottery blog said...

crappitycrapCRAP! Although the big ones are beautiful!

Julia said...

It makes me feel so much better that with as experienced as you are as potters, you still have loads you unload with a hammer. :) The ones that did turn out are absolutely breathtaking. Love, Julia

cookingwithgas said...

yes- it hurts and yes we too make some dogs. But I like to save the dogs for the days I feel frustrated. On those days that pot and I have a date with a big tree!

Barbara said...

The glaze running down the crocks is so gorgeous. If only it hadn't run quite so far . . . But there are some beautiful things in that kiln.

T.Gray said...

love the tile. sorry 'bout the losses. hope you guys have a most successful weekend!

cookingwithgas said...

The glaze is beautiful when it stops at the foot of the pot and not at the shelf.......
I do like the tile. It was an experiment with a green slip and the matte yellow on top- I liked the results and there is even a bit of red in there.
Off to bake some cookies....

Anonymous said...

sorry about the lost pots but the glaze on that tall green one is dreamy

Annapants! said...

I seem to remember a piece of pottery floating around the pond for a few days until Dad blasted it with the shotgun... ?
Or, is that a story that he made up when I was a kid and I think it's real?
Hard to tell with all the BS stories that buzzed around a gullible girl like me back in the day! LOL

Linda Starr said...

The tile is wonderful and the tall ones are great, so sorry for the runs. A guy this past week was visiting my studio and (you probably already know this, but) he works with crystal glazes which run a lot and he said he uses a butane torch to heat up the glaze right where it has run onto the shelf and then he taps it lightly with the back of a spoon and he said sometimes it releases from the kiln shelf, of course he said he has to sand a heck of a lot, but he expects that with the crystal glazes. I wish you a really great sale this weekend.

cookingwithgas said...

Hi Anna- that was a true story and not the only pot that went into the pond.
Hi Linda- thanks for the tip- I think we need to check our ash glaze- it might be too thick and the kiln got extra hot this firing- but I was thinking about a tip from bulldog pottery- using paper clay under the pots- I have to look up that one again.